Demon's Determination
by The-Talon
Summary: There are not enough stories about Abe's beginning at theBPRD. Out of frustration, I am writing my own. I hope ya'll enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Title: Demon's Determination

Author: -The-Talon- AKA ELPHPIRATE

Alright, so here's the regular disclaimers. I don't own Hellboy or any of the characters from the comic. This is my first attempt at writing Hellboy, so be nice to me.

I wrote this because I always wondered what Abe's beginning at the BPRD was like. Poor Mr. Sapien has had a really jacked up life. If anybody has any ideas or suggestions, please don't be shy, I'd be glad to hear them.

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**_Demon's Determination_**

Chapter One

Outside the large metal doors he waited rather impatiently. Not appreciating being locked out or kept in the dark about anything, he passed back and forth, up and down the long hall, past numerous lighted cases housing priceless amounts of occult artifacts.

None held his interest.

Absentmindedly, his tail swung in an agitated fashion, like a cat about to pounce. Hellboy sighed.

'What could Father be hiding in there?' He thought.

Already he had tried to get into the lab, but was met at the door by three very serious, very angry scientists. Normally Hellboy would have had no problem physically removing anyone standing in his way. But recent events involving him breaking a very expensive, high-tech computer, had put him out of Prof. Broom's good graces. In order to win back Father's approval (and hopefully some of his prized comic books) Hellboy was trying to play by the rules.

Suddenly one of the doors swung open, producing Professor Broom, Hellboy's adoptive father. Hellboy rolled his eyes when Father closed the door before he could get a good look at what might be on the other side.

"Hello my boy! Out for a morning stroll?" Prof. Broom greeted cheerfully. Contrary to his questioning tone, Father did not seeming at all surprised to find his son snooping around outside the lab.

Hellboy wasn't fooled by the professor's attempt to redirect his attention.

"I wanna see it." He demanded. "Whatever the hell it is your hiding, I wanna see it." His deep, rumbling voice would have intimidated almost anyone, but Broom just shrugged his shoulders.

"Really son, this nonsense again?" Broom sighed. "We've already been through this. It's the same answer it's been for the last three weeks. NO, you're not going in there. It's simply scientists doing their research, and as your studies have shown, you have very little interest in lab work."

Broom stepped around Hellboy, proceeding down the long, low lit hall, hindered only by the limp in his war scarred leg.

Hellboy growled in annoyance , but held his temper in check.

"How 'bout ya let me be the judge of whether or not I find it interesting?"

OOPS! Hellboy sometimes hated the way thing came out of his mouth without first going through some kind of stay-out-of-trouble filter. That was just a little more sarcastic sounding out loud than it had been in his head.

Father stopped mid step, the end of his cane not even touching the ground yet. Turning his head slightly so he could see Hellboy from the corner of his eye.

"Oh crap!" Hellboy mentally kicked himself. He could always tell when he had gone too far with Father, when he had used what Father called "a tone." Suddenly, his tail seemed very interesting under Father's stern gaze.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity to Hellboy, Broom chuckled.

"I believe it's time for breakfast. Would you be so kind as to accompany an old man?"

Much to Hellboy's dismay, his stomach was more demanding than his curiosity about the mysterious lab.

"Sure." Although Hellboy had given up this time, he mentally swore that he would see what was on the other side of those doors tonight.

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Alright ya'll, like I said, this is my first attempt at writting Hellboy. Anyone care to guess what's in the lab? Reviews would be just ducky!


	2. Chapter 2

First off, I want to thank everybody who commented or signed up for update alerts. Ya'll are great!

Refer to chapter one to find disclaimer.

So here's the next chapter. I wanted it to be a little longer, but I also wanted to update soon. Hope it's enjoyed!

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_Chapter Two_

Slowly the sun sank in the western sky, casting an orange glow like fire over the "Waste Management" building that sat over the large BPRD sub levels, hiding them the general public.

The halls seemed eerily hushed, with many agents either off for the weekend, working diligently in their offices, or out working a case in the field. To say the least, the bureau was unusually peaceful.

For once, Hellboy was glad to be left out of the away missions to catch up on reports of recent cases he had been putting off writing.

He laid lazily on his makeshift bed/truck bed, stroking an orange tabby kitten that slept soundly on his chest.

All day Hellboy had tried to think of ways to get into that lab. Preferably, ways that didn't include tearing the doors from their hinges, which had crossed his mind more than once in recent hours.

Hellboy smirked. "I guess this is why they don't invite me to the strategy meetings they have before each away mission." He thought to himself.

"If Father hadn't _banned_ me from the freakin' lab in the first place, I probably wouldn't even give a crap what's in his stupid lab!"

Hellboy hadn't noticed that his last rant was spoken out loud until the kitten awoke, spitting and hissing at the loud, unexpected out burst. Hellboy scoped it up and set it in the floor with the other kittens.

Claws don't do much damage to a hand made of solid stone.

"Alright, it's now or never." This time Hellboy made sure to use his inside voice.

With that, he headed for Father's office.

Hellboy casually strolled down the corridors, greeting the cleaning crew as the passed. Getting into Father's office would be the easy part. Like he expected, Father was asleep in one of the over stuffed armchairs with an open book on his lap, slightly snoring.

"Why does he even have a bedroom if he insists on sleeping in here?" He wondered as he took Father's glasses off his face, trying to be as gentle as possible with his cumbersome right hand. He traded them out on the desk for Prof. Broom's security pass.

Silently, for someone his size, Hellboy made his way down the long hallways until he found the mysterious lab.

Fumbling with the security pass, Hellboy tried to get in before he was seen sneaking around.

"Come on, come on, come on!" He chanted impatiently as he ran the card though the scanner. After an agonizing two seconds, the scanner beeped and the locks released.

Hellboy took a deep breath. For the first time, he felt strangely nervous about going in, that there might be something he doesn't want to see locked in there. Never being one to pay much attention to his better judgment, he quickly entered the lab, taking one last look down the hallway to make such he wasn't being followed.

Hellboy stepped in and was greeted by a rush of cool air.

"Scientists," He scoffed. "Always gotta keep it so dang cold!"

So far, there was nothing worth hiding, just a bunch of boring science equipment.

The room was dully lit, but Hellboy was to afraid of being discovered to turn on the main over head lights. The greatest light in the room came from the back of the room, coloring the walls with a blue tint as it passed through the water of a tall, cylindrical shaped aquarium.

Hellboy raised an eyebrow, or where an eyebrow should be. "Who keeps a fish tank in a lab?"

From his spot at the door, Hellboy couldn't see any fish in the tank.

"What the hell is the big secret?"

Making his way past computers and machines that even with his training, he couldn't name, Hellboy saw a lab examining table that looked like it came straight out of a old black and white Frankenstein's Monster movie.

After studying the rest of the room and coming up with nothing worth locking him out over, something caught his eye.

Something in the tank.

Bubbles?

Wires?

Why would wires be in the water?

Finding a dial on a nearby control panel, he turned the lights in the aquarium up to their brightest.

Hellboy's golden eyes grew huge as his mouth dropped open.

"Holy crap." He whispered slowly. "Hello, Secret."


	3. Chapter 3

Wow! This update has taken entirely too long to post! I do have some sort of excuse, I fell down the steps of my porch and broke my arm. Wouldn't have been such a big deal if it hadn't been the left one… the one I need to write with. Frustration!

Ya'll have no idea how much I appreciate the feedback! It's been very encouraging. :D Feel free, if ya'll have any ideas, let me know. I'd love to hear them and might even incorporate them.

So without further stalling, Chapter 3.

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Chapter Three

To say Hellboy was shocked would have been an understatement.

Besides himself, he had never seen someone this…. Inhuman.

He stood back from the tank so he could take it all in. Inside was something Hellboy only knew to classify as a mer-man floating in the water. He looked as if he were asleep.

Cautiously, Hellboy approached the glass to get a better look. The creature was tall and slender, without being awkward. He had no hair, but on either side of his neck were gills. Their graceful movement along with the slight rise and fall of his chest were Hellboy's only indication that the fish-man wasn't dead. His skin was a soft blue-grey with strange dark blue markings covering most of his toned body.

Hellboy squinted his eyes. It was hard to tell whether the creature was a fish that looked like a man, or a man that looked like a fish, or something else, something in between.

His hands and feet were webbed, and he had small fins that stretched the length of his forearms and the backs of his calves.

"Okay, I've seen some really weird stuff before. Why try to hide the Missing Link here from me?" Hellboy mused quietly.

The man in the tank looked peaceful, as if he were sleeping on a comfortable bed, not submerged in a hundred year old giant test tube.

Tapping the glass, making sure to use his left hand, Hellboy tried to provoke a response.

"Hey in there, you with the gills."

Nothing.

Not even a flinch.

"Come on man, wake up!"

If the mer-man heard Hellboy's calls, he didn't show it.

Someone else, however, had heard him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing in here? How did you even get in? Does Professor Broom know about this?"

Hellboy turned and found himself facing Dr. Cobb, one of the bureau's top minds. The Docter was fuming. He didn't wait for Hellboy to answer one question before he was shouting another.

"What have you done? What all have you touched? You didn't touch it , did you? Do you even know the diseases that thing could be carrying? You could ruin everything! Get out! Dammit, get out!"

Dr. Cobb screamed as his face turned red and broke out in a heavy sweat. Any other time, the doctor's temper tantrum would have made Hellboy laugh, probably even ag on the doctor's anger even more if he could. But today was different. Today Hellboy just wanted to know more about the man in the tank. Judging by Dr. Cobb's present state of mind, Hellboy didn't think he would be getting any answers from him.

Besides that, Hellboy was getting tired of being cursed at by a man less than half his size. Cobb had just opened his mouth to give Hellboy another long winded rant, when Hellboy shoved past him to the door.

"Whatever! I was on my way out anyway!"

Before Dr. Cobb could say anything else, Hellboy was out the door and on his way to Professor Broom's office.

Bursting through the large wooden doors of Broom's office/library, Hellboy had to many things on his mind to apologize for nearly breaking one of the doors off it's hinges.

Professor Broom was surprisingly awake and sitting at his desk, looking like a principle waiting to give licks to a disobedient student.

Hellboy scoffed. Apparently, someone had snitched to Father about his fact finding fiasco.

"Damn tattle-tail." He thought.

Hellboy waited for Broom to say something, give some kind of explanation for what was in the lab, and why it had to be so top secret. Instead, Broom simply waited for Hellboy to speak.

This only seemed to further annoy his giant red son. There were so many questions, he didn't know where to start.

Broom motioned to a large chair on the other side of the desk.

"Why don't you have a seat and we can talk about this."

Hellboy shook his head and continued to pass back and forth.

Rarely was Hellboy speechless, but today was an exception. Gathering his thoughts, he stopped passing. Then the questions came like a flood.

"Who is he? Where did he come from? What is he? How long has he even been here?" Hellboy stopped to take a breath.

Gesturing towards the chair yet again, Broom sighed. "Hellboy, please sit with me."

No matter how old or big he was, a request from Father was hard to ignore. He begrudgingly complied.

"This information was intended to stay between the scientists and myself, but since you have taken the liberty of making yourself a part of this, I suppose no harm will come of you knowing what we know of this creature." Father always had a way of making Hellboy feel like a child being scolded when he wanted to.

"Does this "creature" at least have a name to go by?" Hellboy wasn't sure why, but he was taking offense to the mer-man only being referred to as an "it", a "thing", or a "creature". He had heard all of these terms and more used to describe himself over the years.

Broom understood Hellboy's objection to the use of such descriptions.

"Of course, we don't know what his given name is, or if he even has one. He has been dubbed Abraham Sapien, by the men who found him."

Hellboy simply raised an eyebrow.

"Oh goodness me, I'm getting ahead of myself." Broom adjusted his glasses before continuing. "I'm sure you know of St. Trinian's Hospital."

Hellboy nodded , not really sure what this had to do with the story.

"There was recently work being done in the basement on some leaky pipes. The two plumbers found the water coming from behind what seemed to be a regular was in the basement. The floor plans showed no room on the other side of that wall. But that's where the water led to. To the crea… to Abraham. They found him in the tank you saw in the lab, with this scrap of paper attached to the side." Broom handed him a small frame containing a very aged piece of paper. In fine cursive "Icthyo Sapien …April 14, 1865" was written. "We searched the old lab, but if there was any more documentation or files about him, they're long gone now. All we have is what species he was classified as."

Hellboy read the words again. Icthyo Sapien. To him the words sounded so cold, impersonal.

And his "name".

Try as he might, Hellboy couldn't see the humor in giving the fish-man a name like a human, but making the name a joke.

April 14, 1865. The day President Abraham Lincoln was killed. The same date as on the paper. Hellboy sneered.

So they name him after a dead president. Thinking back to the pale blue face, Hellboy felt oddly indignant about the name on the fish-man's behalf.

Abraham. "Honestly." He thought. "It's not the 1800's anymore. It's 1978. Give him a name he's not gonna get beat up over."

Hellboy handed the small frame back to Broom.

"So," Hellboy started, taking a deep breath, "Tell me more about Abe."

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Let me know what ya'll think. :D


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